Extractions: Born in Semyonovo, near Novgorod into a wealthy family with a strong military background, Rachmaninoff had his first piano lessons with his mother at the family estate at Oneg. After a decline in their fortunes, the family moved to Saint Petersburg where Rachmaninoff studied at the conservatory, before going on to Moscow, where he studied piano with Nikolay Zverev and Alexander Siloti (a student of Franz Liszt and Rachmaninoff's cousin). He also studied harmony with Anton Arensky and counterpoint with Sergei Taneyev. While still a student he wrote this one act opera Aleko, and the set of piano pieces, Op. 3, which contains the Prelude in C sharp minor, probably Rachmaninoff's most popular piece for solo piano. Rachmaninoff's first symphony was premiered in 1897, but was a complete flop with the critics. Some have suggested that this was as much due to the conducting of Alexander Glazunov, who may have been drunk, as it was to Rachmaninoff. The bad reception led to a nervous breakdown and complete loss of self-confidence for Rachmaninoff. He wrote very little music until he began a course of therapy with Nikolai Dahl. The result of these sessions was the Piano Concerto No. 2, which Rachmaninoff dedicated to Dahl. The piece was very well received at its premiere, for which Rachmaninoff played the solo part himself, and remains one of his most popular compositions, gaining some fame from its use in the film Brief Encounter.

Extractions: Opracowanie na: fortepian solo Rodzaj produktu: nuty drukowane Dostêpno¶æ w magazynie, wysy³ka natychmiastowa Autorzy Autor muzyki: Rachmaninov Sergei Kod produktu: Rachmaninov's most famous works for solo piano and his transcriptions of works by other composers. Includes performances of the works on CD.

Music Scene Rachmaninov, Sergei. Pianist David Helfgott and director Scott Hicks turned Sergei Rachmaninoff into the hottest composer of the middle/late 1990s through http://www.musicscene.com.au/artist/R/rachmaninov_sergei/biography.html

Extractions: Artists Rachmaninov, Sergei Biography A B C ... Z Pianist David Helfgott and director Scott Hicks turned Sergei Rachmaninoff into the hottest composer of the middle/late 1990s through the telling of Helfgott's life story in Hicks' Oscar-winning movie Shine. It is easy to forget, amid the hoopla surrounding Helfgott's eccentric recording of Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto, that Rachmaninoff himself was one of the most celebrated pianists of his day and a highly regarded conductor as well, who left behind many hours of his own recordings, performing not only his work but that of other composers as well. Sergei Rachmaninoff was born to a well-to-do family, but his father squandered most of the family fortune. He took his first piano lessons from his mother, and eventually attended the St. Petersburg Conservatory. The dissolution of his parents' marriage, a product of his father's financial follies and the tragic death of his sister from diphtheria, led to a virtual collapse of the family, and Rachmaninoff's failure of all of his examinations. He moved to Moscow and attended the Moscow Conservatory, beginning his music training anew, and also had contact, through his teacher Nicolai Zverev, with the leading composers of the day, including Tchaikovsky. In 1887, he began composing, but it wasn't until three years later, after a tumultuous split with his teacher, that he began to write music in earnest. In 1892, following his graduation, Rachmaninoff was awarded a publishing contract, and soon composed his best known solo piano work, the Prelude in C-sharp Minor, which came to be demanded so often from audiences for the rest of his career that he quickly came to tire of performing it. In 1895, Rachmaninoff completed his first major work, the Symphony No. 1 in D minor. The premiere, conducted by Glazunov (who is said to have been drunk during the performance), was a disaster. The piece was attacked mercilessly by the critics, and in the wake of this debacle, Rachmaninoff developed a mental block to composition that lasted for six years.